The King of the East conversing with a woman in the palace, from the Book of the East (Khavarannama)

The King of the East conversing with a woman in the palace, folio from the Book of the East (Khavarannama) by Ibn Husam.
Detached folio, ink, gold and colours on paper, Persian text with painting (on verso), Shiraz, Iran, this painting signed Farhad and dated 881 AH, 1476-1477.
Verso: four text-columns of Persian poetry, with painting. The king sits conversing with a woman in a palace room, attended by a maid, doorman, and guards at the doorway
Composed in 1426-1427 (840 AH), Ibn Husam's Book of the East is an epic account of the mythologised adventures of `Ali ibn Abi Talib (son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad) and his four companions, as they conquer "the lands of the East" for Islam. This illustrated page is one of ten detached folios in the Chester Beatty, from a partially-dispersed manuscript: the codex is in Tehran (Gulistan Palace, MS 5750, 645 folios) and forty illustrated folios (including this one) are now in international collections. The Tehran colophon is dated 1450 (854 AH), but five of the known paintings (including this one) are dated 1476, 1477 or 1486, and signed by the painter: "the humblest of slaves, Farhad".